As I sat around the table with a group of college students, I was asked what I was majoring in. I responded that I was majoring in math education. Immediately I was asked why I would want to do a job that makes so little money? If I am good at math would I not want to go into a field that makes more money? My answer was, and still is, that I would prefer to do something that I love and am passionate about rather than something that will help me make a lot of money but that would make me miserable. It is a natural human instinct to want money and to want objects that, in the end, are often worthless. We live in a time where making money and growing is perceived to correlate to quality of life. We get so distracted by the myths that are spread throughout social media and the stories that are told by the wealthy elite that we forget to be critical thinkers and partners in the societies that we create.
Tom Angotti, in “The Real Estate Capital of the World,” writes that “one contradiction of the growth machine is that its blind infatuation with growth undermines the residents’ quality of life, which in turn suppresses growth…The growth machine depends on the perpetuation of the myth that growth primed by real estate brings money into neighborhoods.” The incorrect perception of growth is perpetuated by those who gain the most from this “false truth” at the expense of everyone else. This blindness and the perpetuation of myths immediately brought to mind the lyrics of KRS-ONE. In “I’m Still #1,” KRS-ONE sings:
And if we oughta sing, then let us begin to teach
Many of you are educated, open your mouth and speak
KRS-ONE is something like a total renegade
except I don’t steal, I rhyme to get paid
Airplanes flyin’, overseas people dyin’
Politicians lyin’, I’m tryin’
not to escape, but hit the problem head-on
by bringin’ out the truth in a song
So BDP, short for Boogie Down Productions
made a little noise cuz the crew was sayin’ somethin’
People have the nerve to take me for a gangster
An ignorant one, something closer to a prankster
Doin’ petty crimes, goin’ straight to penitentiary
But in a scale of crime that’s really elementary . . .
It’s simple: BDP will teach reality.
(“I’m Still #1,” By All Means Necessary, Jive Records, 1988)
Here, KRS-ONE addresses the lies and “unofficial truths” often told by the media, politicians, and in our case by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and the New York City Partnership. KRS-ONE is advocating that we make our voices heard and speak out against the lies and myths that are spread throughout our communities and societies. He advocates teaching reality.
The call to action by KRS-ONE, I believe, is what should happen as a result of reading Agnotti. As we read about the injustices that occur as a result of the spreading of myths by a select few, we must take heed of the words of KRS-ONE. Rather than being wrapped up in what society perceives as the highs, viewing growth as the optimal goal of life, we must take part in creating a new narrative; a narrative where growth does not undermine the quality of life of those being dislocated but rather where passion and happiness supersedes our need for materials.
Some questions to be considered are:
- What is the most effective way to make our voices heard? With myths so embedded in society, how can we begin to reshape the meaning of growth and show what it does to the quality of life of the residents?
- Is it possible to create a college atmosphere that is not purely about finding a career that makes money but rather a career that creates happiness?
- Is the growth machine perpetuated by its circular nature? (By this I mean the fact that growth undermines quality of life and suppresses growth does that then causes the needed for more growth and hence suppresses growth further?)
